Accused guru is go-to webmaster

The self-styled political guru accused in a plot to funnel money illegally into San Diego election campaigns has worked for more than 160 politicians and groups across the nation, charging them $1.8 million.

Ravneet Singh, 41, whose company is based in Washington, D.C., built websites, collected Internet contributions and arranged computerized telephone calls on behalf of high profile figures including Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, Jesse Jackson Jr., Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.

The Republican Party of Minnesota and the presidential campaign of former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, were both top customers, spending about $100,000 each on Singh, according to a U-T Watchdog review of 12 years of federal disclosures.

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But his top employer was Chuck DeVore, a former Assembly member from Orange County who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate from California in 2010. DeVore paid Singh $286,000.

Singh is accused of helping to funnel about $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Mexican tycoon and foreign national Jose Susumo Azano Matsura into the San Diego mayoral races in 2012 and 2013 and a congressional campaign in 2012.

Singh’s connections might suggest he was in a position to taint scores of campaigns, although there is no indication in court documents that Singh’s customers outside San Diego have anything to do with the federal probe. DeVore said he never saw anything untoward in his dealings with Singh.

“When I worked with him, he was always very careful to comply with the most recent Federal Election Commission rules,” DeVore told U-T Watchdog. “I’m rather surprised about this. Never once in my dealings with him was there any suggestion that, ‘Gee, you can have Joe Millionaire send us $100,000 and we can break it into $2,000 chunks to make it look like it was from different people.’ There was never that suggestion.”

DeVore’s U.S. Senate bid used one of Singh’s companies — ElectionMall — to place banner ads on websites such as the Drudge Report. By doing so, his campaign was able to raise millions of dollars using very little seed money.

Indeed, DeVore said his campaign chose ElectionMall for the job because prices were far less than competitors.

“On one hand it would be extremely disappointing for me to find out that he did something willfully illegal, but it would be sad to find out if he was just swept into something by providing the service,” DeVore said. “I spent a little bit of time with him and recommended him to other people as well. He was one of these classic American success stories. He seemed to really love the country and the ability to have freedom of worship. It all seemed to me to be very genuine.”

Singh is the son of immigrants who grew up in Chicago. As a teenager he attended a military academy in Aurora, Ill., where he was not allowed to wear his Sikh turban during military drills, according to his website — which features a cartoon version of Singh in a turban.

The controversy eventually led to federal legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan that allowed him to graduate with his turban, his site says.

Singh wrote a book published in 2008 called “Leadership by Turban,” in which he talks, in part, about maintaining his religious identity while becoming a community leader.

“I’m an American, and I wear a turban,” Singh writes in his book. “A lot of people think that’s an odd combination.”

He goes on to say: “I believe that truth is the most valuable gift that you can share with other people.”

Singh ran in 1997 for a spot in the Illinois legislature in a district west of Chicago and blamed his loss in part on his refusal to remove his turban during the campaign, according to Asian Outlook Magazine.

“If I do that, I will not be true to my faith and my work,” he told the magazine. “If I give up my identity and values, I’ll not be Asian or an American. I’ll be nobody.”

He raised campaign contributions at a more rapid rate than his competitors, according to news reports.

In addition to collecting payments for politicians, and charging them for his services, Singh has also been a regular and bipartisan campaign donor himself.

Federal records indicate he gave $245 to John Kerry in 2004 and $4,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2005. They also show he gave $1,000 to George Bush in 1999, $750 to the Republican Party of Tennessee in 2006 and $230 to Montana’s GOP in 2004.

His chief involvement in politics, though, has been through helping campaigns across the country via his company, D.C.-based ElectionMall.

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In the 2004 election cycle, records show that campaigns paid Singh’s company $3,241. By 2008, that number jumped to $260,221; in 2010, $879,354; and in 2012, $529,866.

He was a presence at state political conventions and was a seasoned backslapper and glad-hander to pick up lucrative contracts, those who know him say.

His clients came from across the country, from the California, Minnesota and New Hampshire Republican Parties to the Lyndon LaRouche political action committee.

Other clients included the Minuteman PAC, Life and Liberty PAC and a group called Decidedly Unhappy Mainstream Patriots Rejecting Evil-Mongering Incompetent Democrats or DUMP REID PAC.

Locally, he was somewhat less utilized. Records show that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis hired Singh in April 2013 for $750 of web services. U-T Watchdog checked records for every other elected countywide official for the last three years and found none of the others had hired Singh.

Many who hired Singh were happy with his services. Some were not.

His most high-profile moment before the federal charges came in 2009 during the gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who challenged Gov. Rick Perry for the GOP nomination.

Hutchison’s website had built-in hidden search terms that suggested Perry was gay. Singh, who created the site, was let go after news reports exposed the hidden search terms. Hutchison lost to Perry in 2010.

A client who hired Singh’s company to make robocalls told U-T Watchdog the candidate was not pleased when ElectionMall made the calls to voters in the wrong Congressional district.

Hunter, who paid Singh for web services for his presidential campaign, had his website hacked in 2008, Slate reported. The hackers prominently posted the message, “Kiss You Babyyy yeahhh (:”

Another client: The San Diego County Republican Party.

The group canceled Singh’s last contract, under which ElectionMall did email blasts, as of Dec. 31. Party chairman Tony Krvaric says it’s unlikely Singh will get another contact from the San Diego GOP.

“He’s a good salesman,” Krvaric said. “He’s a glad hander, a consummate salesman, a used salesman kind of guy. Ravi could sell ice to an Eskimo.”